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Video: Texas Officer Who Notified Teen of Parents' Death Attends His Graduation

A police officer who had to tell an 18-year-old last week that his parents had died in a motorcycle accident kept his promise and showed up at the teen’s high school graduation over the weekend.

Lt. Eric Ellison of the Orange (Texas) Police Department was tasked with telling 18-year-old Kazzie Portie his parents died on May 24 when a pickup truck smashed into their motorcycle. The driver of the truck faces two manslaughter charges, Fox 8 TV reports.

When Ellison arrived at the family’s home, Portie was alone, according to BuzzFeed News. Ellison told KBMT breaking the news to Portie was one of the toughest things he has ever done.

Portie told Ellison his graduation from Cypress–Mauriceville High School was only a few days away, so Ellison promised he would be there to support him.

“I walked up on the stage he looked at me and I looked at him and we both cried and that’s OK,” Ellison told KBMT.

A former police officer—now an elected official with the Missouri House of Representatives—wants to force any city with a population of 5,000 or fewer inhabitants, with an area of less than two square miles, to disband its police department and contract for law enforcement services with either the county police department or a larger neighboring city.